ELECTRONIC TOLL COLLECTION PAVING THE WAY FOR AUTOMATIC VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION APPLICATIONS

Since the first installation of an electronic toll collection (ETC) system in Dallas, Texas, in 1989, it has become a predominant application of automatic vehicle identification (AVI) technology. ETC is now a standard for state-of-the-art toll facilities. It eliminates the constraints of manual fare collection systems, and without the constraints, throughput becomes roughly equivalent to the design capacity of the facility. Combined with automatic traffic management, ETC can make accurate traffic stream information available for efficient operation of traffic management systems. An electronic toll and traffic management (ETTM) project in Houston, the first congestion management system based on ETC technology, has demonstrated how AVI-tagged vehicles can serve as intelligent probes to relay information regarding flow and travel times to a traffic operations center. With this information, transportation planners can develop short- and long-term strategies to optimize throughput, as well as travel options and efficiency under various conditions. ETC technology also has environmental benefits. By improving mobility, fuel conservation and air quality are improved. Changes in the operation of toll plazas, ports of entry, and highways as a result of using ETC technology directly contributes to the reduction of volatile organic compounds and oxides of nitrogen emissions. By maximizing periods of efficient vehicle operation through ETC, the total emissions of ozone precursors can be minimized. In addition to the improvement in traffic operations, ETC has a favorable impact providing efficient and safe transportation systems. As the technology behind ETC continues to set the standards for a national transportation system, the effects of ETC on worldwide transportation will increase dramatically.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Five volumes of papers and one volume of abstracts comprise the published set of conference materials.
• Corporate Authors:

  VERTIS

  TORANOMOM 34 MORI BUILDING 1-25-5
  TORANOMON, MINATOKU, TOKYO 105  Japan 
• Authors:
  • Majdi, S
• Conference:
  • Steps Forward. Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress
  • Location: Yokohama, Japan
  • Date: 1995-11-9 to 1995-11-11
• Publication Date: 1995-11

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 1449

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air quality; Automatic vehicle identification; Economic efficiency; Electronic equipment; Environmental impacts; Fuel conservation; Highway traffic control; Intelligent transportation systems; Toll collection; Traffic flow
• Uncontrolled Terms: Efficiency
• Geographic Terms: United States
• Old TRIS Terms: Electronic systems
• Subject Areas: Economics; Energy; Environment; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Vehicles and Equipment; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning; I91: Vehicle Design and Safety;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00723417
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: Volume 3
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 22 1996 12:00AM